Overhead rabbit carrier for dog-racing tracks



Dec. 23, 1930. w. c. LE MJRE 1,735,337

OVERHEAD RABBIT CARRIER FOR DOG RACING TRACK Filed June 20, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l M C- .Le Mire.

Dec. 23, 1930.

w. c. LE MIRE 1,785,837

OVERHEAD RABBIT CARRIER FOR DOG RACING TRACKS Filed June 20, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 23, 1930. w. c. LE MIRE OVERHEAD RABBIT CARRIER FOR DOG RACING TRACKS Filed June 20, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 yEIHTH -we W e C Patented Dec. 23, 1930 PATENT OFFICE WARREN o. LEMIRE, or ANGON, CANAL zoun, PANAMA OVERHEAD RABBIT CARRIER FOR DOG-RACING TRACKS Application filed June 20,

i 1 This invention relates to amusement devices and moreparticularly to a carrier for a rabbit 'or the like employed'as' a lure in connection with racing tracks. 7

" (At the present time it is customary when building a dogracing track to dig a trench and in this trench erect rails along which a carriage moves but this has been found unsatisfactory as itis expensive to install and 1 in addition it has been founddangerous and track is illuminated.

I Another object of the invention is to so arrange the rails that there Will be no danger 1 i of a person being injured by striking one of the rails when walking beneath the track and further to so arrange the rails that, if a person standingor walking beneath the rails should grasp one of the'rails, therewill be no danger of injury by'an electric shock. Another object of the invention is to allow a three phase motor to be employed as the propelling means and thereby allow the carriage to be quickly stopped and returned to the startingv point when necessaryby merely reversing the polarity of the current passing through upper rails of the track;

Another objectofthe inventio'nis to provide an improved type of carriage having lower wheels which rests upon a lower rail of the track and upper wheels which are yield- 40 ablyv supported andurged into position to bear against upper rails of the track where serve to retain the carriage upon the track and also constitute rotatable contacts a through which current may pass from the charged upper rails'to a motor carried by the carriage. V

Another object of the invention is to so mount the motor that it may be adjusted in order to tighten a belt or chain which transto Inits rotary motion from the motor shaft to 1928. sexi r No. 286,927.

axles carrying the Wheels which rest upon the lower rail'of the track.

Another object of the invention is to prevent danger of the dogs being injured in case the speed of the carriage should unexpectedly become reduced. It'sometimes happens that due to a detect the carriage will slow down and as the dogs usually attack the rabbit from the front if they should catch it there is danger of a dog being caught between the rabbit and the surface of the ,race track. This often causes serious injury to the dog and, therefore, I propose to eliminate this danger by supporting the rabbit upon an arm or rod pivoted to the carriage so that if a dog should catch the rabbit the arm may swing upwardly when the rabbit is struck and thereby prevent danger of the dog being caught between the rabbit and the surface of the race track. A

Another object of the invention is to so connect the rabbit with the arm carrying the same that if the rabbit should become torn by a dog it can be very easily removed and a new one substituted.

Another object of the invention is to provide the track with a shield disposed over the same and serving to protect the rails and carriage in case of rain.

Another object of the invention is to allow a light to be substituted in place of a rabbit incase dogs are being raced which prefer to follow a light instead of a stufied rabbit.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein I Figure l is a view showing the carriage and portions of tracks upon which it is mounted in side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the track with the carriage shown in end elevation;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the carriage;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through the upper rails and shield;

Fig. 5'is a fragmentary view illustrating a latch which serves to engage the rabbit carrying arm and releasably hold the arm in a raised'position when swung upwardly out of itsnormal position a Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view through the rabbit taken on the line 66 of Fig. 1 and illustrating themanner of releasably se-. curing the rabbit to the arm carrying the ploy these poles and secure to the same upper and lower arms 2 and 3 which are spaced from each other vertically of the pole; The arms may be secured to the poles 1n any desired anner, but in the accompanying drawings lhave shown these arms secured by bolts 4: and plates 5 and in order to prevent the arms frorn' sagging I have provided bracesfo-secured to the arms and poles by bolts 7 Lights have been omitted, but it will i be understood that, they will be applied to the poles intheusual manner. Upper rails Sand 9' are secured against the under surfaces of the arms 2 in transverse spaced relation to each other and a lower rail 10 is secured against the upper surfaces of the arms 3 mid- "way the'r'ails- 8 and 9, as clearly shown in 2, and it is intended to have the lower arms at such height .thata person may walkbeneath the track without danger of striking the lower rail orits supporting arms." It should'be" further noted that since the upper rails are charged and the lower rail is a'dead rail there will; be no danger of a person re ceiving a shock if ail-unusually tall person should happen to strike the rail or a person should grasp the rail when standing near it or walking'beneath it.

In order to protect the track from rain, I employ a shield 11 which consists of strips of sheet metal curved transversely, asshown in Fig, 4. The stripsof metal from which the shield is formed extend between the poles and rest upon blocks or bolsters 12 which have curveduppersurfaces and fiat under sur faces so that they may be well supported upon the upper rails, and in order to firmly hold the bolsters in engagement with the rails, I

employ blocks 13 which bear against the rails and are firmly held in engagement with the rails and bolster by securing bolts 14:. By this arrai igement the shield will be very firmlyheld in place but at the same time it can be removed if found necessary or desirable,

The carriage which'travels along the track includes a body portion or plate 15 formed of strong metal and substantially triangular in shape. An opening 16 is formed in the central portion of the plate or body and through this opening extends an electric 'motor 17 frorn which extend s1de fears 18 having vertlcally extending slots 19 formed therein to receive securing screws 20 which are threaded into the body plate. By loosening these screws the motor may be vertically adjusted for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth. Bearings 21 and 22 project transversely'of the body plate from the lower corners thereof, and these hearings receive axles 23 which have their ends projecting and carryingsupportingwheels 24 to rest upon the lower rail 10and sprocket wheels 25 engaged by a sprocket chain'26 which also engages a sprocket wheel 27 fixed upon the shaftof the motor 17. From an inspection of Fig. 1, it will be seen that, when the screws 20 are loosened, the motor may be shifted upwardly through the medium of the set screw 28 until the sprocket chain has been tightened and the screws then again tightenedin order to "firmly hold the, motor in a set Tposition'. Therefore, the motor may serve as a tightener for; the chain. It-will'be understoodthat if so desired pulleys may be substituted for the sprocket wheels 25 and 27 and a belt trained about the pulleys in place of the sprocket c 1am.

" Theupperwheels29 which bear against the charged rails 8 and 9 arerotatably sup- 7 ported upon axles 30 which extend through but are insulated from bearings 31 at the upper ends of arms 32 which may be referred to as trolley poles, andthese trolley poles are pivota'lly mounted at their lower ends, as

, shownfat 33,iand"pass through clips 34 which serve to :guide and limit pivotalmovement'of V the trolley"poles; Springs 35' are connected vwith eyes 36 which project upwardly from the bearings 31 and at theirotherends are engaged with bolts 37 which pass through brackets 38 and carry securing nuts39 so that by tightening of loosening the nutsthe ten; sion of the springs may beicontrolled. These springs: exert a pulling action against'the trolley. poles and serve toretain the wheels in contacting engagement with the upper rails. Therefore, when the carriage .is disposed between the upper andlower'rails, the upper wheels will have good contacting engagement with the charged rails and may serve very effectively as current collectors and in addition there will be no'danger of the carriage umping the trackwhen inmotion. The m0- tor is a three phase motor and has one wire l0 grounded upon the-body plate, as shown in Fig. 1, and its other wires 41csecured to the axles upon which the collecting wheels 29 are mounted. By this arrangement the direction inwhich currentv'passes through the'motor may be controlled by reversing the polarity of the rails 8 and 9 and, therefore, thecarriage may be caused'to move forwardly when the dogs are racing and when itis desired to stop the carriage and return the carriage to the starting point it is merely necessaryto reverse the polarity of the rails and this will cause the motor to reverse thereby rapidly checking theforwardmotion ofthe carriage A spur 45 projects downwardly through the saddle plate into the body of thestuffedraband causing it .to-ret'urn to the starting place. order to "carry an artificial rabbit, I

have provided anarmor rod 42 which may .rbexhollow or solid and'this rod is of such length that when disposed in the substantial ly vertical operative position shown in Figs.

1 and 2 the rabbit 43 carried by the rod will be disposed close to the track but at a sufthe rabbit, I have provided .asaddle plate 44; formed of metal and curved transversely,

' "as shown in Fig. 6, so that it has close contactingengagement with the back of the rabbit.

bit and at one side thesaddleplate' carries short straps 46 to which buckles 47 are attached whileat its other side the saddle plate carries longer straps 48 which are passed about the rabbit and engaged with the buckles 47. By this arrangement the rabbit will be firmly held in place andprevented from beingrtwisted out of its proper position but if a dogshould catch and tear the rabbit the straps 48 can be released from the buckles and a new rabbit substituted very easily and quickly.

' -A sleeve 49 fitsloosely upon the-bearing 22 and is formed. with a sleeve extension 50 which-is fixed upon the rod 42 in spacedre'lation vto its upper end andthe upper end ,portion'ofthe rod is bent, as shown in Fig. 1, to providea'handle portion 51 ofsuch length that it may be-engaged between the jaws of a clamp 52 secured against the adjacent side face of the body plate 15. Itshould be noted that the jaw 53 of the clamp is pivotally mounted and engaged by springs 54 so that, while the rod will be normally retainedin the position shown in Figscland 2, the handle may be moved, from between the jaws andthe 'rod swing upwardly to the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1 if a dogshould catch the rabbit and-strike it. ;As previously explained, a dog whenchasing a rabbit will strike it from'the front and itis desired to havethe arms swing upwardly'in a rearward direction when 'the rabbit is struck so that there will be no danger of the dog becoming caught between the arm and the surface of r the track and'injured. Ears 55 extend downwardly from the bearing 21 and'carry spring clips or jaws'56 which may be formed, as shown in Fig. "5, and are provided with heads 57 at their endsso that, when the rod is swung upwardly, it will be engaged between these clips and retained inan elevated position where it will: be prevented from dropping downwardly and possibly injuring, a dog upon the track by striking it. It will also be obvious that when'the device is not in use the arm may be swungupwardly by an attendantrso that-it will be out of the way and not liable tobe accidentally struck and bent by some one Walking along the track.

WVhen the apparatus is erected, the arms Qand 3 are secured to the poles 1 which may already be in place or poles erected for this purpose and, as previously stated, the poles are to carry the lights by means of which the track will be illuminated. The upper and lower rails are secured to the arms in approximately the relation to each other.

shown in Fig. 2 and power wires connected w th the upper rails so that current may b supplied to these rails; The carriage is set in place upon the track with its lower wheels resting upon the rail 10 and its upper wheels bearing against the rails 8 and 9 and these upper wheels constitute trolley wheels to take current from the charged upper rails and deliver it to the motor. The arm or rod 42 normally extends downwardly from the carriage in spaced relation tothe free ends of the arms 3 and the lower portionof the rod is bent transversely away from the lower arm 8 and then again downwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the rabbit will be disposed in proper relation to the race track. When the power .is turned on, the motor will be energized and the carriage will move along. the track at a high rate of speed and the "dogs will chase the rabbit. By proper control of the current the speed at which the carriage moves may be regulated and, therefore, the .rabbit can be retained any distance in front of the dogs. After the race is ended the current is reversed and this will cause the motor to reverse, thereby quickly stopping-the forward movement of the carriage and causing it to return to the starting point.

In Fig. 7, there has been shown a light 58 which may be employed in place of the rabbit. This light which consists of an electric bulb is screwed into a socket 59 mounted at the lower end of a hollow rod 60 corresponding to the rod 42 and wires 61 extend through the hollow rod and these wires project outwardly from the rod adjacent the sleeve 50 and may be cut into the wires of the motor so that when the current is turned on the light will be illuminated so that it may be followed by the dogs which prefer a light to a stuffed rabbit. v

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In a race track apparatus, an overhead track including upper and lower rails, a carriage between the rails having wheels engaging the rails, a motor carried by said carriage for propelling thesame along the track, an arm pivotally connected with said carriage and normally disposed vertically, a lure carried bysaid arm at its lower end, the upper portion of the arm constituting a handle, a latch carried'by said carriage to engage the handle and releasably hold the arm in a vertical positiomand a second latch carriedby -inga handle, a latch carried bys'aid carriage to engage the handle and releasably hold the arm in a vertical position, said arm being adapted to be swung upwardly to an inoperative position when released from said latch, and a second latch carried bysaid carriage to engage the arm. when swung upward v 'ly and .releasably hold the arm in an elevated position. to v 3. In a race track-apparatus, an overhead track including supporting poles, arms extending transversely from the poles one above another, rails secured against'the upper arms and extending beneath the same in transverse spaced relation to each other, a rail secured to the lower arm below space between the upper:rails,one of the upper rails electric motor ocarried by said carriage, the

being charged, a carriagebetween the rails having upper and lower wheels bearing against-the same, the wheels engaging the upper rails receiving currenttherefrom,= a motor carried by said carriage and having conductors connected with the upper wheels, an-arm carried by said carriage and extend ing downwardly therefrom, and a lure carried by said arm. r 4 In a race track apparatus, an overhead track including supporting poles, arms extending transversely from the poles one above another, rails secured againstthe upper and lower arms and extending between the same, a carriage movable along the track and having wheels bearing againstthe upper and lower rails, an arm pivoted to said carriage and normally extending downward- 1y therefrom, a lure carried by'said arm,

means to releasably retain the arm in a normal-position, and means to secure the arm when swung upwardly to an inoperative position;

5. In a race track apparatus, an overhead track including supporting poles, arm-s extending transversely from the poles one above another, rails secured against theupper arms and extending beneath the same in transverse spaced relation to each other, a rail secured to the lower arm below space 'between'the upper frails, one of the upper rails being charged,

a guard for said track consisting of strips disposed'over the upper railsibet'ween the poles, bolsters upon the upper rails firmly secured in transverse relation thereto and having the strips secured against their upper surfaces, a carriage movable along the track and having wheels engaging theupper and and receiving current from the upper wheels and operatively connected with the lower wheels, and means carried bythe carriage to support alure below the track.

I 6. In a race track apparatus, an overhead track including supporting poles, arms extending transversely from the poles one above another, rails secured against the upper and l'ower arms and extending between the same, a guard for sald track extending between the poles over the upper'ra1ls,'a carriage movable along the'track and having wheelsbearing against the upper and lower rails, and means carried by the carriage to support a lurebelow the track. r

7. In a race track apparatus, an overhead track including upper rails spaced transversely fromeach other anda lower rail disposed below space between the upper rails, a

carriage between the rails having lower wheels resting upon the lower rail, poles pivoted to the carriage and extendingupwardly therefrom, wheelsrotatably "connected with said poles, resilient means urgingsaid poles upwardly to retain the wheels carried thereby in engagement with the-upper rails, an

motor beinggrounded upon the carriage and having conductor wires connected? with the poles whereby current may be fed from the upper railsjto the motor, means for transmite ting rotary motion from the motor to the thereof.

8; In a: racetrack apparatus, an overhead track including upper rails spaced transversely from ea'chotherand a lower'rail disposed below space between theupper rails, a car'- riagebetween their ails having lower wheels resting upon the lower-rail and upper wheels yieldably held in position to bear against the upper rails, an electric motor carried by said carriage, saidmotor being. grounded upon the carriage and having wires connected with the upper wheelswhereby current may be fed to the motor from the upper mile,

drive means between the motor and lower wheels, and a lure carried by "said carriage and disposed between the track. a I V 9. In a race track apparatus, an overhead track, a carriage movable along said track, an arm pivoted to'said carriageand normally disposed in a substantially vertical position with its lower portioner'tending below the track, a saddle plate at the lower end of said arm, a spur extending from the saddlev plate below the arm, a lure fitting againstthe saddle plate with the spur embedded in the lure, securing straps carried by the saddle plate and passed about the lure to releasably secure the arm in a vertical position, the arm being adapted to be swung upwardly to a horizontal position when released from the holding means. I 10. In a race track apparatus, an overhead track having upper rails spaced transversely from each other and a lower rail between the upper'rails, a carriage movable along said track and including a body plate, wheels row tatably connected withth'e body plate and resting upon the lower rails, poles pivoted to the body plate and extending upwardly therefrom, axles extending in opposite directions from, the poles, wheels rotatable about 1 the axles and bearing against the upper rails, means to propel the carriage along the track, and means carried by the carriage to support a lure beneath the track in operative position to a race track. 7 '11.- In a race track apparatus, an overhead track having upper rails spaced transversely from each other and a lower rail between the upper rails, a carriage movable along said I track and including a body plate, wheels rotatably' connected with the body plate and resting upon the lower rails, poles pivoted to the body plate and extending upwardly therefrom, axles extending in opposite directions a from the poles, wheels rotatable about the '30 axles and bearing against the upper rails, the

upper rails being charged and the upper wheels being insulated from their axles, an electric motor carried by said body plate and grounded thereon and having conductors con- 7 nected with the axles, means to transmit motion from the motor to the lower wheels, and means carried by the carriage to support a lure in operative relation to a race track.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. 40 V WARREN C. LE MIRE.

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